Butterfly Cakes

I haven't been doing much interesting cooking recently, mainly due to lack of funds. We have spent the summer eating salad, jacket spuds and pasta, old favorites which I have already blogged about! I have been a very lazy blogger, no excuse, just need to get myself motivated!

I made these butterfly cakes for little F's 5th birthday party back in August. They were just decorated with thinly rolled marzipan shaped with a butterfly cutter, painted with diluted colour paste and edible glitter (which stayed with me for days!)

J told me that one of her friends, who was just about to eat her cake, had a real butterfly landed on her shoulder and there it sat for quite a while!

Le Tour de France

G's step-father has an apartment in Avoriaz, right in the heart of the French Alps. Stage eight of this year's Tour de France just happened to be finishing there so it seemed fairly stupid not to make the most of a perfect opportunity. So last Friday we made the ten hour drive, arriving at two in the morning, creased, tired and very excited.

It was the most fantastic day, I have never experienced anything like it, the people, the colour, the atmosphere, the noise, the carnival and those amazing cyclists. And it was all there for free! It must be the only major sporting event with so many world class athletes that you can go and watch without spending a fortune on tickets.

Vile Morsels No.1

I have been such a bad girl and haven't blogged for over a month! I have no reasonable excuse for this and I certainly can't blame my hectic social life or highly stressful career!

Due to a very small budget and the fact that we go out cycling as soon as G gets back from work at seven, we tend to eat quite lightly when we get home, shattered. There wouldn't be anything less boring than a daily photo and ode to the jacket potato?

I was recently remembering the most disgusting sausage roll I ever had to eat and this started me thinking about all the food I have eaten under duress, and how the hell I managed to swallow some of the vilest pap ever.

And so to that horrible sausage roll . . . . there was a girl with whom I became 'friends' on the basis that she lived over the road from me and we were both starting at the same secondary school. In my teenage naivety I looked up to her and thought she was the last word on every subject a teenage girl would need to know about - fashion, music, politics, boys etc.... in fact she was a complete and utter B*t*h and she ruined my life at secondary school. It seems fitting then that her mother is in fact the first recipient of my Worse Cook Ever Award and should be jailed for heinous crimes against sausage rolls.

It was the said girl's thirteenth birthday and she had invited four of us to join her for a picnic in the grim field next to her house. Her mother gave us some really grubby, greyed Tupperware boxes full of picnic 'treats' to carry the full fifty yards across to the grim field where we could sit on the barren ground, in January, and eat. Maybe it was a blessing that the first box contained the sausage rolls, this effectively killed my appetite and spared me the horrors that lurked in the other boxes. The cold, half raw sausage roll had the clammy texture of a fat finger that had been floating, bloated, in the sea for weeks; as I bit into it my teeth pushed through the thick pastry, that could easily have just been a layer of neat lard, and then came the nerve-piercing squeak as my tooth enamel scratched down against the gritty texture of the 'sausage' centre. I felt all the blood drain from my head as I tried to control the gag reaction that was desperate to launch the contents of my mouth into the grim field. I held it in for seconds whilst I grabbed a paper napkin into which, at the first unnoticed opportunity, I 'transferred' the yuk. Even now the thought of it makes me shudder. I have never in my entire life, so far, found a sausage roll that comes close to the sheer nastiness of that one . Congratulations Mrs. K!

Elizabeth David

There were two moments in my life that I can still vividly remember, two moments which made me think about food differently. The first was my tenth birthday, my parents took us out for dinner to an Italian restaurant in Whitstable called Giovanni's, I think it might have even been the very first time I had been to a 'proper' restaurant? I had lamb chops. I will never forget how they tasted and my amazement at the flavour of the dried rosemary they had been sprinkled with, I had never tasted anything like it before and it was wonderful.

The second moment was just after my daughter R was born, we were staying with R's paternal grandparents for a few months. I spent a lot of time with R's Great Aunt N who lived next door. R's father would be away working on a film somewhere and her grandfather,C, would be down in the hop garden helping with the harvest. N and I would spend the mornings making soups or stews, at lunch time C and a small group of polish hop pickers would arrive for lunch. They were the simplest, most humble of lunches and the happiest of meals. Most of the ingredients were from my little vegetable garden or soups made from the biggest and most perfect Puffballs which kept appearing in The Valley that year, to this day I have never seen the like again.

During this time of discovery N gave me one of her copies of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking, I read every page of it and was seduced by the modesty, the simplicity and the respectful understanding of food. I treasure this book, it is one of the tiny number of core books from which a million celebrity cook books have been spawned. Everyone should own a copy!

Barbecue on the Beach

It was a beautiful day today and we decided, at the last minute, to take the little disposable barbecue (that we never got round to using last year) to the nearby beach of Seasalter and have our tea there. We took some thinly sliced chicken and beef, a pack of sausages, lots of french bread, Ketchup and mustard. G packed the Gin and Tonic, our only luxury item.

The three children ate hot dogs and the strips of meat as it cooked. The bread was slathered with mayonnaise, mustard, Ketchup and coleslaw and tasted surprisingly good - probably a result of the mood and place in the same way Ouzo tastes so wonderful drunk in Greece, but bloody awful on a grey damp day in England!

We drove home full and tired, promising ourselves we should do it more often. There is so much on our doorstep and we don't see it!

Jo's Dough

For the first time this year I have just sat on the grass in my friend's garden! I know it sounds a little extreme but this could indeed herald the official beginning of summer; of balmy(ish) evenings, eating and drinking outside. It was nice to sit and drink coffee outside whilst being entertained by F skipping up and down and demonstrating her hand-stands!

My friend J had made some bread dough earlier that day but hadn't had time to knead and bake it so she gave me a piece for my supper. I thought I had some leftover pizza sauce but R had already eaten it, that scuppered my pizza plan. Instead I've just scattered some bits of onion, tomato and thyme, drizzled olive oil and seasoned my flattened dough. I will cook it as soon as G and I get back from our bike ride later this evening.

Raised Pie

With the elusive arrival of summer comes the promise of meals eaten outdoors. I love picnics and evening meals eaten on the half rotten table that wobbles on the decking in our 'communal' garden. Last year we would take one of those disposable barbecues out there, once it was up to heat we would sit it on a 'fireproof' base (a couple of bricks and an oven tray!). I would have a plate of very thinly sliced beef, chicken, pork and streaky bacon and we would each take a slice, cook it in seconds over the heat and eat, dipped in Dijon mayonnaise, Hollandaise, ketchup, HP sauce - whatever we had to hand.

One of my favorite picnic foods is the pie, shortcrust or hot water crust I'm not fussy I love them both, and the filling too (although I'm not too keen on a lot of jelly in my Pork Pie). This recipe for Raised Game Pie is simple and very savoury.

RAISED PIE - A carried meal or served hot or cold for lunch

80z plain flour 3oz fat bacon, minced

1 teaspoon salt 1 onion, minced (2oz)

2 oz dripping or fat 2 level teaspoons mixed herbs

1/4 pint water 1/2 level teaspoon salt

8oz sausage meat 1/4 level teaspoon pepper

Mix the flour and salt. Boil the dripping or cooking fat and water and add to the flour. Knead well and line a 1 lb bread tin with the pastry, keeping back enough to make a lid. Mix the other ingredients thoroughly, place in the tin and cover with the remaining pastry. Brush over with a little egg or milk and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour.

Happy Birthday!

I have been a bad girl and neglected my blog these past couple of weeks. I haven't been very creative in the kitchen mainly due to lack of funds and G & R's request for lots of salads, now the 'warmer' weather is here. I feel very guilty and promise that I will try harder.

I did make a cake for my eldest nephew's 18th birthday. He wanted something naughty and so I presented him with this naked lady jumping out of a cake, he loved it but his 4 year old brother was not impressed and told me that I should have put clothes on her! His 11 year old brother, on the other hand, has already put in an order for his birthday!

Wedding Cake

It's that time of year when the 'Secret Society of Wedding Cake Makers' start to line their cake tins and mould their sugar paste. The dense balls of white clammy paste are lovingly kneaded and coloured; pulled, rolled and folded into delicate blossoms and blousy divas. These creators of edible gardens silently and deftly conjure any flower or leaf the fretful bride demands.

Gone is the plainly elegant three tiered, iced fruit cake decorated with a tiny plastic wedding couple, fresh flowers and silver horseshoes. The cake is no longer an ancient symbol of fertility and prosperity to be shared with the guests- in it's place is Cakenstein. Cakes of every shape, size, height and colour. Cakes that cost as much as a car and leave the happy couple in debt for the first years of marriage. Cakes featured on daytime TV, wedding magazines and at those huge wedding fairs. The poor bride, it's just another excruciatingly difficult decision in her long list of trinkets, trimmings and other tat that she is being led to believe she needs to make her day 'special'. How about keeping it cheap and simple to avoid debt and keep the marriage special?

Oakdene

Just off the London Road in Wrotham is a small, white single storey building. It looks very ramshackle and a little tired, with accidental garlands of light cables draped around it, peeling paintwork and grey windows. It sits silently, with the reverence of a Cathedral surrounded by motorbikes of every creed and colour. This is the Oakdene Cafe, a Shrine for its two-wheeled hungry pilgrims.

Inside there is always a full congregation; all walks of life indistinguishable in their uniform of black leathers, heavy boots, slogan T-shirts and neck buffs. Everyone equal and respectful in their roadside sanctuary.

I love it there and we always stop on our way through for a huge breakfast. On Good Friday, breaking up our journey to Bath, we ate breakfast at 9am, we both had the Oakdene Special and didn't feel hungry again until 6pm that evening! I am not going to wax lyrical about the food (and I certainly won't say anything negative through fear of rousing the mob!), it was a huge fry-up with a mug of tea, brown sauce and plenty of salt on the egg and tomato. Not recommended every day, but once in a while it's extremely good for you!

http://www.oakdenecafe.co.uk/

Salad and Steak

Every other weekend we were child-free, so that Friday night became Steak Night. We would treat ourselves to a beautiful chunk of cow from our fantastic local butcher and eat it with all the culinary kitsch of a Berni - onion rings, oven chips, garlic mushrooms, peas and grilled tomatoes. These became affectionately known as Dirty Dinners

But those covert dinners were brought to an abrupt end when R gave up her weekend job, never to be mentioned again. But today I burnt my hand at work and to cheer myself up I decided we would have steak again! I just wanted my rare meat with a green salad and some tomatoes (I have a bit of a 'thing' about roasted tomatoes at the moment). A piece of topside, a big bowl of spinach, watercress, sugarsnaps and broad beans (from the bag I bought to keep my hand cold as I walked through the supermarket in agony), halved tomatoes, seasoned and dotted with garlic butter then slow roasted. All with my favourite salad dressing.

Dijon Dressing

Into a small jug put a generous teaspoon of Dijon mustard, add about a tablespoon of tarragon vinegar, whisk together. Gradually add Olive Oil in a thin stream as if making a mayonnaise. You should end up with lovely thick dressing, the consistency of which you in complete control of adjusting with the addition of more oil. Season and add lemon juice to taste.

Jelly and Ice Cream

I found this photo of my mother when she was a child in the 1950's. The subject itself is pretty self-explanatory, a children's tea party. The children are all wearing their party best; the girls in pretty dresses with bows in their hair and the boys in shirts and cowboy hats. You can almost hear their excitement, maybe it's the abundance of cake and squash or the appearance of a camera? I would imagine that most of these children had sleepless nights prior to the party, it's arrival as eagerly anticipated as Christmas. It's a happy afternoon, one of many in the fresh-air-filled, kite-flying, tree-climbing, rope-jumping, camp-building, model-painting, hop-scotching, book-reading and truly free-spirited afternoons in the lives of these children. Small gifts made huge smiles and simple toys were treasured.

But what if you drew together a similar group of children today, laid tables with white table cloths and fed them simple sandwiches, fairy cakes, jelly, ice cream and squash? Would their excitement and marvel be equal? Would their eyes light up for a photo to be taken? Sadly I don't think so. There would probably be widespread vocal disappointment at the lack of cold chicken nuggets, flaccid pizza, crisps, and teeth-achingly fizzy drinks. The children wouldn't be dressed in simple summer clothes, but in uber trendy designer clothes the cost of which would have paid for the 1950's party! They would get bored with Blind Man's Bluff or Pass-the-Parcel and the lack of a party bag stuffed with goodies causing raised eyebrows from competitive parents?

What a shame that the concept of childhood is now just a marketing tool for holiday brochures, Organic Cereals and Fabric Conditioners!

Cowboy Cookies

I have eaten all the Fig Rolls I made last week, I'm not ashamed as the figgy bit counted as one of my Five-a-Day. I can now compensate by making cookies with the chocolate chips my Gourmet Sister sent me. Flicking through the Field Guide to Cookies I decided to make 'Cowboy Cookies', maybe things would have been different on that Mountain if they had had a supply of these?!

COWBOY COOKIES

Makes 24

230g Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

225g Butter

110g Sugar

110g Light Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
175g Rolled Oats

200g Chocolate Chips

115g Walnuts

• Preheat the oven 180/350/Gas 4. Line two oven sheets.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
• In a stand mixer cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add the flour and mix on a low speed until just combined.
• Stir in the oats, chocolate chips and walnuts.
• Grab little balls of dough, about the size of a large walnut, place on the tray and flatten slightly.
• Bake for about 15 minutes until golden and feel firm. Cool on a wire rack. Keep in an airtight container for 2 weeks, or freeze.

Bread & Marmalade Pudding

Looking through this leaflet full of ideas to 'stretch the sugar ration' I've decided upon Bread and Marmalade Pudding for tonight. I'm wondering if this leaflet should be re-named 'How to stretch the ink ration' as most of the recipes only seem to have a couple of ingredients, one of the reasons I'm intrigued with this dish! I'm not sure how confident I feel about 'spreading the marmalade over the breadcrumbs' though...

BREAD & MARMALADE PUDDING
4 0z. breadcrumbs, 1 pint milk, fresh or household
3-4 tablespoons marmalade

Place half the breadcrumbs in a 1 1/2 pint pie dish. Spread over the marmalade and cover with the remaining crumbs, adding the milk last. Bake in a moderately hot oven for 1-1 1/2 hours, when the pudding should be set and golden brown.

P.S. This wasn't very nice, like eating wallpaper paste with a hint of bitter orange and dried Copydex.

Fig Rolls

Yesterday I received a wonderful surprise parcel from my Gourmet Sister J, lots of delicious goodies and a fantastic little book 'The field Guide to Cookies' (Anita Chu/Quirk Books) with recipes for nearly every cookie imaginable including one of my favorite, Fig Rolls.

FIG ROLLS

makes about 16

150g Plain Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

110g Butter

175g Soft Brown Sugar

1 Egg

3/4 Vanilla Extract

1 tsp Orange Zest

Filling

215g Dried Figs, chopped

1 tbls Sugar

• Sift flour, salt and baking soda. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, add the egg, orange zest and vanilla extract and mix. Add flour and mix on low speed to form a dough. Turn dough onto cling film and chill for an hour.
• To make the filling put figs, sugar and 240 ml of water into a saucepan, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until it reaches a jammy consistency. Set aside and cool.
• Divide the dough into two and roll first piece out on a floured surface, roll into a rectangle about 18 x 30cm. Carefully transfer to a sheet of parchment paper.
• Spread the filling down the centre half of the dough, fold one side over the middle and then the other side over the top - this will be obvious as you do it! Flip cookie over onto it's seam side. Repeat with other half of dough and then chill for 20 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven 375/190/Gas 5.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and then cut into 4cm slices.

Flan aux Raisins

I bought some bad grapes yesterday. I should have tried one in the shop (is that shop-lifting? I never know. I suppose you wouldn't take a bite from an apple or banana before buying, so why does it seem okay to try a grape?). Anyway, I took a chance and it didn't pay off. So here am I with a pound of the sourest grapes that nobody in the house will touch, maybe if I hide them in a Grape Flan.....

Flan aux Raisins

serves six

For the pastry

200g Plain Flour

125g Butter

1 Egg

A Little Cold Water

For the filling

125g Green Grapes

125g Black Grapes

2 Medium Eggs

100g Caster Sugar

3 Tablespoons Ground Almonds

100ml Double Cream

25g Flaked Almonds (not in photo as I didn't have any!)

25cm Flan Tin with loose base, (buttered & floured)

• Preheat oven to 230 C/450 F/Gas 8.
• Put flour into food processor, cut butter into small pieces and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs (or rub in by hand). Add the egg and a little cold water, process again until a ball forms. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes then roll out thinly and line the flan tin, chill again for another 30 minutes.
• Wash, pick through and thoroughly dry the grapes, arrange over the pastry base.
• Beat the eggs and caster sugar together until pale and thick, beat in the ground almonds and then the cream. Pour over grapes and sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 20 minutes. reduce heat to 200 C/400 F/Gas 6 and bake for a further 20 minutes.
• If the surface is browning too quickly place a sheet of foil over the top. Serve warm.

Tapas Bars

When is a Tapas Bar not a Tapas Bar? When it's in England. How has every 'Tapas Bar' in this country missed the point of Tapas? They've done to Tapas what Centre Parcs has done to the Great Outdoors; taken something that should be enjoyed for it's very simplicity; for the free licence it gives to tuck in, get messy and have fun and has spent millions cleaning, sterilising and re-packaging it. It's just another safe and shiny ride in the slowly evolving theme park of modern life - another Accessory Experience to add to the generic calender of 'Great Family Days Out'.

Food is such a major commodity in bars and pubs now that it can't be simple, simple is their secret weapon, their 'buzz word', it's what Gastro Pubs thrive on, less is more. Everyone wants to see simple meals on the chalk boards; Pies, Liver & Bacon, Ploughman's Lunches... but there is the small print; the Pies are made with the most expensive 'Normandy Butter and Flour milled by Fairies and baked in an original 18th Century Baker's Oven', the Liver is from farmed Unicorn and the ploughman's lunch has 'Handcrafted' bread. Why can't we have a Tapas Bar that sells snacks; just small morsels of food, of bread, sliced sausage, potato croquettes, olives, ham, meatballs, anchovies? Just small dishes of food, plain and cheap but very tasty and easy to eat with a drink in one hand, not a thesaurus.

Casseroled Sheep's Hearts

There is something quite sinister about Sifta Sam in his white bell-bottoms, comedy sailor's hat, starched beard and the grin of a man who has just pickled his neighbour's cat. He's the kind of character who would have given me nightmares as a child and put me off salt for life. Most of the recipes in the book are inviting but there is one which I am sure is the work of Sifta Sam, Casseroled Sheep's Hearts. Now I'll eat liver and, on occassion, will eat edited kidney, but not heart. Maybe I will try it one day and think differently? But for now this recipe is nothing but grim. Please don't try this at home!


Recipe No 102

CASSEROLED SHEEP'S HEARTS

Clean four hearts and soak them in salt water for half an hour. Dice 2 carrots, 2 onions and 1 turnip. Put them in a casserole with A1 Cooking Salt, pepper and a bunch of herbs. Lay the hearts on top. Half cover with stock or water. Cook slowly for about two hours. remove the herbs. Thicken the liquor with blended browned flour. Serve with boiled potatoes.

Golden Soup

I love my ministry of Food leaflets. I imagine my grandmothers following the recipes and conjuring up simple meals and treats from the tiny bounty in their wicker shopping baskets.

This recipe is so modestly simple and it tastes lovely with lots of warm bread and butter.

GOLDEN SOUP

serves four

2 1/2 Pints of water

2-3 Level teaspoons of salt

3/4 - 1 lb Carrots, coarsely grated

1/2 oz Dripping or margarine (I used butter)

2 Level tablespoons semolina

1/4 Level teaspoon pepper

2 Level tablespoons chopped parsley or watercress

Bring the water and salt to the boil, add the carrots and fat and boil gently for 10 minutes, or until tender. Blend the semolina and pepper to a smooth paste with a little cold water, add some soup, mix well and return to the pan. Stir until it boils and boil gently for 5 minutes. Serve hot sprinkled with chopped parsley or watercress.

Cinnamon Crisps

The Ministry of Food 'Cookery Calendar' were recipe sheets designed to give the frustrated housewife ideas to make the most out of her weekly rations. Some of the recipes are nothing short of grim like the spaghetti sauce made from root vegetables and cabbages 'boiled together for 30 minutes', but many sound intriguing and also very cheap! These humble Cinnamon Crisps are lovely and, as the name suggests, very crisp, they remind me of those little plastic-wrapped biscits you sometimes get free with coffee.

(Recipe copied as printed)

CINNAMON CRISPS - another tea-time treat

1 oz. margarine 4 oz self-raising flour 1 level tablespoon syrup

1/2 level teaspoon cinnamon 1 oz. sugar A very little milk or water

1/4 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Melt the margarine in a saucepan, remove from the heat and mix in the syrup, sugar and soda. Add the flour and cinnamon and just sufficient liquid to bind the mixture. Turn on to a board, knead well and roll out very thinly. Cut into rounds and bake in a moderate oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and when cold store in tins.

N.B. - this quantity makes about 16 biscuits with a 2" cutter.

Whipped Jelly

This is a Recipe Sheet printed for Chivers & Sons Ltd in the 1940's. The paper has faded with age and the sepia photo on the front depicts the English countryside of H.E.Bates; headscarved women picking strawberries, the flat-capped farmer and his carthorse laden with the freshest fruit ready for it's lumber to 'The Orchard Factory', there it will be transformed into 'Those famous Chivers products'. It's a world long gone, suffocated by mass importation and the forgotten honesty of seasonal food.

The six recipes are for jelly; the Jelly-filled orange segments that we, of a certain age, remember from childhood parties. Sometimes they were speared with a cocktail stick, threaded with a paper sail to resemble little boats, a detail undoubtedly since made illegal by our friends in Brussels, far too dangerous!

The Jellied Dates are one of the horrors of childhood, the kind of pudding a stuffy aunt would make for you, watching as you ate it, and then, presuming that your hurried consumption (to get the awful deed over with as quickly as possible) was a sign of enjoyment, insisted you have seconds and thirds. What could possibly be less appetising than a 'mock cream' filled date encased in jelly like some hideous dinosaur eye fossilised in Amber?

What does fascinate me though are the following two recipes (copied directly form the original leaflet) which require you to whip the jelly. I have never heard of this before and certainly can't remember ever eating anything that could have been a 'whipped jelly'?

CAMBRIDGE STRAWBERRY WHIP

1 pt. pkt Chivers Jelly (strawberry)

Chivers Strawbery Jam

Make up the jelly as directed on the packet. Set a little in the bottom of individual glasses. When set, spread a layer of jam on each. Whip the remaining jelly until stiff, pile into the glasses and decorate with a little jam.

FIRELIGHT CUBES

Pint pkt Chivers Jelly (Lemon or Orange) Chivers Jam

Melt jelly cubes in boiling water to make 3/4 pint in all. Pour half in a shallow dish, leave till set. When remainder begins to thicken and adhere to the sides of the basin whisk until stiff. When quite set, cut both clear and whipped jellies into cubes with a wet knife, arrange in individual glasses on a base of jam.

Baked Egg

I love boiled eggs with soldiers, but I hate burning my fingers whilst picking all the sharp bits of shell off it's bald head and then you always get stabbed in the gum by a shard that had burrowed into the white. So imagine having a naked egg, ready to eat without any of the disruption or risk!

BAKED EGGS

1 Egg

A Little Butter

A Little Cream or Creme Fraiche (optional

Boiled Water

Salt and Pepper

• Preheat oven to 190/375/5
• Butter your ramekin and pour in a tablespoon of cream, if using. Break your egg into the ramekin. Dot with butter.
• Place into a deep oven proof tin or dish and pour in the boiled water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekin.
• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes depending how well cooked you like your eggs.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Serve with buttered soldiers

You can also sprinkle with grated cheese or bury a number of different ingredients under the egg - chopped ham, smoked salmon or other fish, asparagus, chopped tomato, cooked mushrooms. . .

Baklava

I used to make Baklava a lot and could justify this habit by taking trays of it to work to share out. The best Baklava was, of course, that which I ate in a Kafeneon, in Methana, Greece, along with the tiny cups of thick Greek coffee. As with any holiday food or drink, it never tastes the same when you are home, but I still enjoy the act of making and eating (very small) pieces of it. It is cloyingly sweet and contains tonnes of butter to glue each delicate layer of filo to the next. Not a health food!

BAKLAVA

Makes about 24 pieces

500g Filo Pastry (about 20 sheets)

200g Unsalted Butter

350g Finely Chopped or Ground Nuts (Walnuts, Pistachios or Almonds)

Syrup

500g Sugar

300ml Water

2 tbl Lemon Juice

2 tbl Orange Flower water

• Pre-heat the oven to 160/325/Gas 3
• Butter the sides of a baking tray, ideally about 30x20cm, 6cm deep.
• Layer half of the filo pastry (10 sheets)in the bottom of the tray, buttering each layer as you go.
• Spread the nut mixture evenly over the layered pastry, then continue to butter and layer the remaining sheets of filo. Butter the top layer.
• Cut into small squares or diagonally into lozenge shapes.
• Dissolve the sugar into the water and lemon juice and simmer until thickened enough to coat a spoon. Add the Orange Flower Water (optional). Chill syrup.
• Bake the Baklava for 45 minutes and then turn the oven up to 220/425/7 and bake for a further 15 minutes.
• Pour the cold syrup over the hot Baklava. Allow all to cool and then eat, small pieces at a time, it's very sweet!

Spiced Nuts

We had some friends over for supper last night. I made all the food on Friday so I could enjoy the evening. This was a lucky bit of foresight on my behalf because, during a bike ride yesterday morning, I fell off and hurt my knee. I would like to say that it was during a death defying stunt that I lost control and gracefully tumbled to the floor, but the truth is I was trying to re-arrange my cycling attire, lost control of my bike and hit the ground. Unfortunately my free hand was wrestling with wayward underwear and wasn't quick enough to free itself and break my fall. My shoulder and knee smacked down onto a sharp gravel track. Ouch! So I was very grateful for the minimal kitchen tasks I had to perform last night. The only cooking I had to do was make the Spiced Nuts.

SPICED NUTS

2 tbl Butter

2 tbl Water

100g Soft Brown Sugar

1/4 tsp Ground Cumin

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp Salt

500g Mixed Nuts

• In a frying pan lightly toast the nuts, keeping them moving so they don't catch. Remove to a bowl.
• Put the butter, water, spices and salt into the pan and heat gently, stirring to combine. Heat through to form a sticky glaze, about 3 minutes.
• Toss the nuts into the glaze and cook until they are shiny and brown. Tip onto a baking sheet lined with foil or greaseproof paper and allow to cool. Serve with drinks or store in an airtight container

Potato Pete

My daughter bought this postcard for me from a trip, with her father, to the National War Museum. It's an example of World War II public information art. I love the colours and the font, it's so simple and basic and, ironically, from a time of severe rationing and shortage which resulted in the nation being at it's healthiest!

I would include one of my favourite potato recipes here but, due to G pouring me a large Gin and Tonic earlier, I think it would be safer if I didn't!

Tortellini

Apologies for the huge gap between recent blogs, this is due to lots of secretive birthday cake making for my daughter's eighteenth!

I haven't made fresh pasta for ages and thought it was about time I got my faithful pasta machine out and knocked up some tortellini. There are so many pasta dough recipes, some seem to have dozens of eggs, others have just egg yolks and others recommend only one or two per hundred grams of 00 Flour? It's very confusing. The methods vary too, but I used the processor method and started with 200 grams of 00Flour, one egg and one egg yolk. I blitzed this but it still felt a little dry, so I added one more yolk. The dough came together nicely, I wrapped it in cling and rested in it in the fridge for a hour.

Whilst the dough was resting I blitzed a small punnet of mushrooms, melted a little butter and olive oil and fried the mushrooms with a finely chopped garlic clove. Once this had cooked down I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of grated Parmesan, seasoned and left it to cool.

The best gadget I ever bought was my Kitchenaid Pasta Roller. I cut the dough in half, kept one piece covered while I flattend the other half and started to put it through the rollers, largest setting first. After rolling, folding and re-rolling through this setting I then started to pass it through the thinner settings until I was left with a long sheet of gossamer. Sprinkled semolina across the work surface and laid the sheet down

To Make Tortellini

Score squares (about 5cm) onto the dough as a guide and place a teaspoon of mushroom stuffing in the middle. Use a little water to dampen the edges, fold in half to make a triangle. As you press the sides together, gently massage from the stuffed centre to the edges to force any air out. With the longer edge of the triangle at the bottom, take the two 'arms' and pinch them together, you should have a little tortellino! Place on a tray, with a generous layer of semolina, to dry.

To Make Ravioli

Score a rectangle onto the pasta sheet, about 5cm by 10cm (this is just a guide, the finished Ravioli can be any size you like!) Place about a teaspoon of filling in the centre at one end for the rectangle, dampen the edges with water and fold over to make a square. Again, carefully press the edges together, easing out any air. Place on the 'semolina tray' to dry.

These can be kept in the fridge for three days or frozen for up to three months. To cook, drop into a pan of boiling salted water, turning down the heat so that the water is just simmering, you don't want to have to little parcels thrashing about in a maelstrom, they might burst open and all that fiddling about would have been in vain!

I melted butter, quickly fried some sage leaves, poured this over a dozen totellini and gave them to R as a treat for finishing her essay.

Salmon Escalopes in Champagne Sauce

A long time ago, before Rick Stein was invented, I was lucky enough to eat at his Seafood Restaurant. I remember the plates were huge (or maybe I was just smaller then?) and the food, of course, was simple and very delicious. The Salmon dish I chose was unlike anything I had ever eaten before and it had a huge effect on me.

Before we left I bought a copy of the chef's new book, my only regret is I didn't have the balls to ask him to sign it for me!

SALMON ESCALOPES IN CHAMPAGNE & CHIVE SAUCE

(Rick Stein)
Serves 4

750g/1.5 lb Salmon Fillet

Sunflower Oil

Salt

25g/1oz Butter

1 Small shallot

100ml Champagne

1 Pint Fish Stock

100ml Double Cream

Fresh Chives

Caster sugar

• Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently soften the chopped shallot. Add the Champagne and boil for a couple of minutes, add the sugar and stock. Reduce by about three quarters.
• Add the cream and boil until thickened.
• Take your salmon fillet and place, skin side down, on a chopping board. Remove any bones with tweezers or fine pliers.
• You want to slice the fillet at a slant, about a 45 degree angle, towards the skin. You need about three slices per person so you are aiming for twelve equal slices.
• Brush each Escalope with a little sunflower oil, season lightly with salt and place on an oiled baking tray.
• Preheat the grill to it's highest setting. Warm four (huge) plates. Warm the sauce and stir in 2tsp finely chopped chives (more or less to suit your taste)
• Place the salmon under the grill for a minute to cook through and transfer to the warmed plates.
• Bring the sauce to a boil, stir in a knob of butter and spoon over the fish.

Spaghetti Bolognese

We all have a memory or two about the food we ate in our childhood, not always good memories (I used to think the rubbery tubes poking out of school liver was macaroni!). A sudden smell or unexpected taste can set your heart racing and whisk you at speed to a place hidden deep within your memory. You are overwhelmed. You breathe in the smell again, taste the food again hoping to conjure up whatever it was that had just filled you. But it has gone. Sometimes you do remember and are able to capture that memory and keep it; a forgotten ice cream flavour, a sandwich cut a certain way, the art of forcing jelly between your teeth, dark brown sugar melting onto semolina (you only eat the bit with the sugar on!)...everyone has something. Spaghetti Bolognese is one of mine.

When my mother was a young bride she was given a Bolognese recipe by a friend's Italian mother. I guess in the sixties Bolognese very exotic and a young bride cooking it for her new husband may have been considered a little frivolous. But she cooked it, he loved it and so she carried on cooking it, she cooked it for me, for my brother M and then little brother G. We would all be overcome with excitement when, returning from school, discovered we were having Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner. At some point a ritual developed, I'm sure the result of sibling rivalry; we couldn't start eating until we had forked through the sauce and picked out all the mushrooms, counted them and a winner declared. These fungal prizes would then be displayed around the edges of our plates and eaten last of all. This meal was never eaten without Dried Parmesan in it's cardboard tube, the lid with it's plastic disc which could be twisted to deliver either a pathetic sprinkle or a truckload.

As with any popular recipe there are probably thousands of variations and nuances, each undoubtedly as good as the last. This is my favourite Bolognese Sauce recipe because of it's familiarity and the memories of the five of us sitting together and really enjoying the same meal time after time. It is very rich and tomatoey, if colours had a flavour this would definitely be red!

BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Serves Five

500g Minced Beef

1 Onion, finely chopped

142g Tin of Tomato Puree

1 litre Carton Tomato Juice

100g Button Mushrooms (or more!) wiped

• Put the minced Beef into a saucepan and brown. Drain off any excess fat.
• Add the onion and cook together for a few minutes.
• Add puree, mix into the beef and onion.
• Cover the meat with the Tomato Juice (you may feel that you don't need to use the whole carton).
• Add the mushrooms. Season
• Simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 hours
• Adjust seasoning.

My First Cookery Book

I can still vividly remember being bought this book. I was ten years old and, probably due to my gender, had been allowed to accompany my mother and our neighbour Sheila on a shopping trip to SavaCentre. It was like being taken to another country as far as I was concerned, I mean we had to drive there! It was an epic journey out of Faversham and towards London, I think somewhere in my little head I thought we actually were going to London. But, in reality, it was thirty miles down the road to Gillingham.

Sheila lived down the road from us, she was one of those rare people who are almost angelic, you naturally felt happy and safe around her, she was just a very kind and happy soul. I remember that she was always smiling. My brothers and I loved to go and see her, we would ride our bikes down to her house and she would tell us stories, make us ice-cream sodas and feed us Wagon Wheels and Milky Bars. She loved children and would have been a wonderful mother, but life had denied her that wish. Even in my childish naivety I could sense a deeply buried sadness within her.

One day we went to see her. Her husband told us she had gone away on holiday and not to worry. All of the adults who lived in our road started to speak in whispers, we knew that we shouldn't ask.

Sheila had been suffering from cancer for a long time and, one day, simply didn't have the strength to smile anymore.

Sheila bought this book for me, that evening at the supermarket. I saw it on the shelf and must have taken it down to have a look. Sheila took it from me and winked. I'm sure that mum must have protested as mothers do, but that book was mine, I treasured it, reading it over and over, imagining what the food would taste like. It is quite amazing that it has travelled these thirty years with me and I still haven't cooked anything out of it!

Oat Cookies

I have made literally thousands of these simple cookies over the past four years while working at the school. I remember eating them when I was a student there in the eighties, except then they were covered in chocolate. Up until two years ago we were allowed to put a single Smartie in the centre, but then the government decided that was far too unhealthy and so the frivolous chocolate treat had to go. But, even striped of their chocolate fig-leaf, these cookies are delicious, they taste crisp and golden.

OAT COOKIES

Makes about 18

225 g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

225g Plain Flour

225g Rolled Oats

140g Golden Syrup

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Preheat the oven to 180/350/gas 4

• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Sieve the flour, bicarb and baking powder and add to the sugar and butter along with the syrup and oats.
• Beat this all together until evenly combined.
• Roll into balls the size of a walnut and flatten lightly onto a lined baking tray.
• Bake for about 12-15 minutes until golden, leave to cool slightly on the tray before removing to cooling rack.

Welsh Rarebit

I love melted cheese. Two of my most favorite meals eaten out were the cheese and mushroom crepes at Beau's Creperie and the cheese and ham toasted sandwiches in Riceman's Restaurant, sadly both eateries no longer exist.

Macaroni Cheese, Lasagna, Fondue, Cheese Omelette...anything with even a hint of melted cheese has to be at the top of my list of Comfort Food. I had over-stocked with cheeses this Christmas, a deliberate move on my behalf, I still had a chunk of Brie sitting in the fridge so I made a warm cheese dressing for a salad we ate on Monday (just melted some de-rinded brie into a couple of tablespoons of milk), it was delicious. There was still a small jug of the cold sauce left so I toasted some bread, spread it with Dijon mustard and the rest of the solidified Brie dressing, returned it to the grill to heat and bubble. I ate this whilst watching the snow, feeling very warm and cosy.

Mushroom Soup

Snow Day! One of the few benefits of working in a school are Snow Days, and today was one. I slid into work for seven this morning and was home again by eight. Even fearless G hadn't left and was waiting for the sun to come out and hopefully melt some of the ice that was glazing the surface of our town. It was below freezing, snowing hard and I was in the mood for soup.

MUSHROOM SOUP

Serves four

1 Small Onion, chopped

1lb Mushrooms, stalks removed, caps finely sliced

Butter and Oil

2 1/2 Pints Chicken or Vegetable Stock

Small bunch Parsley, Stalks too

Salt & Pepper

1 tbl Flour

Lemon Juice

Cream

• Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a large pan, add a little oil. Add the onions and cook down gently until softened.
• Add a tablespoon of flour to the onions and combine
• Add the stock and blend with the flour, add mushroom stalks, seasoning and parsley, simmer for about 20 minutes
• Strain the soup, pressing all of the juices out of the onions and mushroom stalks. Return the strained liquid back into the pan.
• In another pan melt another tablespoon of butter and some oil, when foaming add the sliced mushrooms, seasoning and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Turn the heat down, cover and leave to cook down for about 5 minutes.
• Pour the mushrooms and their juice into the soup. Add cream to taste, adjust seasoning, heat through and serve.

What To Do With Pork Chops?

Three pork chops, an onion and a tired apple were the starting points of tonight's supper. I was missing some cider to make a sauce so I sent R a quick text asking her if she would pick up a carton of apple juice on the way home (she's got another three weeks before she can legally buy cider!). To be honest I wasn't feeling too well and didn't feel like eating, let alone cooking. The following ingredients were what I had to hand, but you can use any mustard, cream, juice or seasonings that you like (orange and ginger? Pear and Perry?).

Pork Chops, Onion and Apple

serves 4

4 Large or 8 Small Pork Chops

1 Medium Onion, finely sliced

1 Green Apple, sliced

Salt & Pepper

Dijon Mustard

Sour Cream/Creme Fraiche/Cream

Apple Juice/Cider

Few Sage leaves, chopped

Vermouth

• Heat a teaspoon of oil and a teaspoon of butter in a saucepan and add the onion and apple, turn the heat down low and cover. Stew for 25 minutes until the onion is golden and almost melting. Set aside.
• Meanwhile remove any excess fat from the chops and place between two sheets of clingfilm. Flatten to about a centimeter using a whatever comes to hand!
• Season chops and set aside.
• Have a plate warming in the oven.
• Heat a little oil in a frying pan and brown the chops, about 3 minutes each side, remove to the warm plate. Continue until all the chops have been browned.
• De-glaze the pan with a splash of Vermouth (R hadn't returned from college with the apple juice so I had to improvise with the only suitable liquid in the house!). Stir to dissolve all the cooked meaty bits into the liquid.
• Once the alcohol has burnt off add some apple juice/cider, a teaspoon of mustard, the cooked onion and apple, sage and a tablespoon or two of cream. Stir to combine, adjust seasoning and warm.
• Return the browned chops to the pan and heat through.
• Place chops on a warm platter, pour a little of the sauce over, put the remaining sauce in a jug and serve.

Chicken Soup

G will hate supper tonight, the only form of meat will be the essence of yesterday's chicken flavouring our soup! I am gradually modifying G's default setting that prevents the male brain from acknowledging a plate of food unless it contains meat!

The whole point of making the soup tonight was to use up yesterday's carcass and have a very cheap meal, but I ended up spending £20 and getting really frustrated at the supermarket's new display. . . Easter eggs! We've only just taken a breath from the pressure of Christmas!!

Chicken Soup

1 Chicken Carcass

Carrots

Parsnips

Spring Onions

Black Peppercorns, 10-12

Parsley

Sea Salt

Put the chicken in a large pan and just cover with water, I've found through experience that it's best to use less water to help concentrate the flavour, so if necessary break the bird up a little so it can fully submerge

Bring to the boil and simmer for about an hour. Strain and return the liquid to the pan, add the carrots, parsnips (I don't bother to peel, just wipe if dirty), parsley, spring onion, sea salt, peppercorns. You can add whatever root vegetables you like, this is just what I had available.

Pick any pieces of meat from the carcass and add that too.

Simmer for an hour, taste and adjust seasoning. Strain through a sieve and return the broth to the pan. It does seem a waste to throw out the flavouring ingredients, but by now they are pappy having given up their flavour to the soup, their job is done.

Heat the soup and serve.

I Hate Roast Potatoes

Nothing seems to arose so much shock and disbelief as my swift rejection of roast potatoes with my Sunday Lunch. To be honest the Sunday Roast is my least favourite meal, maybe because of it's association with the end of the weekend, hair-wash night and the return to school?

Give me a potato in any other form; mashed, boiled, gratin, gnocchi, chipped, rosti, dauphinois, sauteed or even raw and I am a happy girl. I can appreciate the roasted potato looks glorious, burnished with gold and streaked with marmitey edges, almost tempting me to take a bite. . . and I always try one, maybe it will be the one that wins my heart? But, no, it's the same disappointing bland, dry texture and taste hiding within that cunning disguise.

BUT in my only defence of the roasted potato, Bubble and Squeak would not be the same without it's mandatory inclusion of leftover roast spud. All the vegetable spoils of lunch are tipped into my Bubble and Squeak box and deposited in the freezer. For best results there should be about half potato to whatever mix of other vegetables you like, I give it all a quick blitz in my Magimix and then fry or bake until crispy.

Smashed Chicken Night

Every other Saturday G's two boys come and spend the weekend. Needless to say these weekends are very 'male' with virtually 24 hour football related viewing or playing. Along with the predictability of the entertainment there is also the predictability of the food - sausages or chicken.

It is a sad reflection on today's society that a lot of children are missing out on one of the most fundamental and basic rites of life; sharing, eating and enjoying food, good food, fresh food, lovingly prepared food. Parents too career obsessed to worry about feeding their own children, relying on the cornucopia of the 'happy food' that lives in the freezer department and is magically awoken by the microwave. These children become suspicious of anything that isn't heralded by a cheeky pirate or a friendly tiger, they won't eat anything unless it comes in a box, is nutrition-free or is passed to them through a window. It's not just our 'boy weekends' that always frustrate me, it is also cooking in a school kitchen that highlights the fact that each generation is slowly erasing inquisitive hunger from it's instinct.

After that little rant I shall return to the recipe. Armed only with chicken breast fillets (the more flavoursome parts of the chicken would be sniffed out and rejected by O & G so it has to be the breast) I am making Smashed Chicken. It's simple, nothing new or exciting and is very cheap. But most of all, the boys actually eat it.

I haven't given quantities here as I always make it 'by eye' it is so simple. I always have breadcrumbs ready blitzed and in the freezer.

Smashed Chicken

plenty for four

4 Chicken Breast Fillets

Plain Flour

Seasoning

Spices (optional, but I always throw in a large pinch of Cayenne Pepper, Smoked Paprika, Chilli Powder, Salt & Pepper plus anything else that takes my fancy)

2-3 Eggs, beaten

• Trim the chicken, slice off the small fillet and then slice up the breast into piece about 2-3cm wide and the width of the fillet, you should get about 5-6 pieces of chicken (including the small fillet) from one breast
• Lay a length of cling film across your work surface, onto this place the chicken pieces with space around them. Cover with another length of cling film. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin bash the chicken firmly, but not too harshly that the chicken rips. You want to flatten the chicken to escalopes about 5mm thick.
• Have ready three bowls; one filled with flour, one with beaten egg and one with seasoned breadcrumbs and the spices of your choice.
• Have a lined tray ready onto which you will place the prepared chicken.
• First take an escalope and dip into the flour to coat, then into the eggy bath onto which will stick the final coating of spicy breadcrumbs. Place on the lined tray. Repeat until all the naked chicken is clothed.
• Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry each escalope until golden and crispy, these are so thin that the chicken only takes a couple of minutes to cook.
• Keep everything warm in an oven whilst you finish cooking in batches. Serve on a huge platter with lots of salad and jacket potatoes or wedges.

One day I am going to replace the chicken with pork and see if they notice. . .

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

I was just going through an old cookery file and, what joy, I found this postcard. It was given to me by my dear friend J. I had obviously put it in a safe place during my escape from the 'married house', now Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and I are reunited! Happy New Year!